The Penitential Psalms: Introduction to Psalm 37

*Folio 67v
http://www.metmuseum.org/

The third penitential psalm is Psalm 37, shares the same opening verse with Psalm 6, 'Rebuke me not, O Lord, in thy indignation'.  It is a plea for the remission of our sins.  Psalm 37 is particularly important for us today I think, because it deals with an unfashionable consequence of sin, namely punishment.

The text

Psalm 37: Domine, ne in furore

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Psalmus David, in rememorationem de sabbato.	A psalm for David, for a remembrance of the sabbath.
1 Dómine, ne in furóre tuo árguas me, * neque in ira tua corrípias me.	1 Rebuke me not, O Lord, in your indignation; nor chastise me in your wrath.
2  Quóniam sagíttæ tuæ infíxæ sunt mihi: * et confirmásti super me manum tuam.	2 For your arrows are fastened in me: and your hand has been strong upon me.
3  Non est sánitas in carne mea a fácie iræ tuæ: * non est pax óssibus meis a fácie peccatórum meórum.	3 There is no health in my flesh, because of your wrath: there is no peace for my bones, because of my sins.
4  Quóniam iniquitátes meæ supergréssæ sunt caput meum: * et sicut onus grave gravátæ sunt super me.	4 For my iniquities have gone over my head: and as a heavy burden have become heavy upon me.
5 Putruérunt et corrúptæ sunt cicatríces meæ, * a fácie insipiéntiæ meæ.	5 My sores are putrefied and corrupted, because of my foolishness.
6  Miser factus sum, et curvátus sum usque in finem: * tota die contristátus ingrediébar.	6 I have become miserable, and am bowed down even to the end: I walked sorrowful all the day long.
7  Quóniam lumbi mei impléti sunt illusiónibus: * et non est sánitas in carne mea.	7 For my loins are filled with illusions; and there is no health in my flesh.
8  Afflíctus sum, et humiliátus sum nimis: * rugiébam a gémitu cordis mei.	8 I am afflicted and humbled exceedingly: I roared with the groaning of my heart.
9  Dómine, ante te omne desidérium meum: * et gémitus meus a te non est abscónditus.	9 Lord, all my desire is before you, and my groaning is not hidden from you.
10  Cor meum conturbátum est, derelíquit me virtus mea: * et lumen oculórum meórum, et ipsum non est mecum.	10 My heart is troubled, my strength has left me, and the light of my eyes itself is not with me.
11  Amíci mei, et próximi mei * advérsum me appropinquavérunt, et stetérunt.	11 My friends and my neighbours have drawn near, and stood against me.
12  Et qui juxta me erant, de longe stetérunt: * et vim faciébant qui quærébant ánimam meam.	12 And they that were near me stood afar off: And they that sought my soul used violence.
13  Et qui inquirébant mala mihi, locúti sunt vanitátes: * et dolos tota die meditabántur.	13 And they that sought evils to me spoke vain things, and studied deceits all the day long.
14  Ego autem tamquam surdus non audiébam: * et sicut mutus non apériens os suum.	14 But I, as a deaf man, heard not: and as a dumb man not opening his mouth.
15  Et factus sum sicut homo non áudiens: * et non habens in ore suo redargutiónes.	15 And I became as a man that hears not: and that has no reproofs in his mouth.
16  Quóniam in te, Dómine, sperávi: * tu exáudies me, Dómine, Deus meus.	16 For in you, O Lord, have I hoped: you will hear me, O Lord my God.
17  Quia dixi: Nequándo supergáudeant mihi inimíci mei: * et dum commovéntur pedes mei, super me magna locúti sunt.	17 For I said: Lest at any time my enemies rejoice over me: and whilst my feet are moved, they speak great things against me.
18  Quóniam ego in flagélla parátus sum: * et dolor meus in conspéctu meo semper.	18 For I am ready for scourges: and my sorrow is continually before me.
19  Quóniam iniquitátem meam annuntiábo: * et cogitábo pro peccáto meo.	19 For I will declare my iniquity: and I will think for my sin.
20  Inimíci autem mei vivunt, et confirmáti sunt super me: * et multiplicáti sunt qui odérunt me iníque.	20 But my enemies live, and are stronger than I: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
21  Qui retríbuunt mala pro bonis, detrahébant mihi: * quóniam sequébar bonitátem.	21 They that render evil for good, have detracted me, because I followed goodness.
22  Ne derelínquas me, Dómine, Deus meus: * ne discésseris a me.	22 Forsake me not, O Lord my God: do not depart from me.
23  Inténde in adjutórium meum, * Dómine, Deus, salútis meæ.	23 Attend unto my help, O Lord, the God of my salvation.

Context

As can be seen above, Psalm 37 starts by recapitulating the first penitential psalm, Psalm 6’s plea for God not to rebuke the psalmist in his anger, or chastise him in his wrath. But whereas Psalm 6 is a plea for God to act as a physician rather than a judge, the speaker in Psalm 37 knows that he is being punished, and the psalm is actually about the willing acceptance of suffering here and now as punishment for sin.

The psalm vividly describes the sufferings of the psalmist, and deals with how to respond to the enmity of others who rejoice over his humbled state. And his main plea is for vindication in the face of his enemies.

The descriptions of the psalmist's sufferings here have strong echoes of the Book of Job, though unlike Job, King David accepts that the suffering is deserved: he did after all commit both murder and adultery! And on a number of occasions committed sins of pride and anger that incurred severe punishments on both himself and his people.

But these verses also call to mind the suffering servant sequences of Isaiah, and so the psalm can also be applied to those who undertake penance on behalf of others: when we undertake indulgenced acts and apply them to the souls in purgatory for example; to the saints who add to the treasury of merits; and above all, to our Lord.

Three levels of interpretation

Accordingly, this psalm needs to be read on three levels. First, it can be interpreted in the light of the historical situation of its author, King David, who interprets the sufferings he has undergone in his life as just punishments needed to expiate the effects of his sins, yet also longs for God’s forgiveness. As such, it can also be applied, as a second level of meaning, to the events of our own lives, and be seen as a reminder that it is better to accept God’s correction in the form of the events of our life, and do penance now, than to suffer in purgatory. Thirdly though, many of the Fathers and saints interpreted it as a prayer of Christ for the Church: it chronicles Our Lord’s betrayal and suffering to expiate the sins of us all. As such, it can act as a prompt for us to do penance on behalf of others.

Some modern exegetes have questioned the assignment of the psalm to David’s authorship, noting that the picture the psalm paints of a man close to death as a result of a serious illness has no obvious location in his life. However, the traditional approach to this psalm, supported by analysis of the Hebrew, is to interpret the descriptions in the first half of the psalm rather more figuratively than literally (the illustration above depicting David pierced by arrows from God in verse 2, notwithstanding), an approach certainly suggested by the references to God’s arrows in verse 2 which are clearly meant metaphorically rather than literally.  The descriptions, then, are seen as references to the terrible events of David's life such as the death of his son by Bathsheba, the dishonour of his daughter, the death of his son Absalom, the plague that afflicted Israel as a result of David’s decision to take a census of Israel out of pride and without requiring the prescribed offering to the holy places, and so forth.  Thus, the psalmists festering sores and putrefaction then, are spiritual sores hidden from others, but all too visible to God; the humiliations he suffered though, all too visible to his enemies.

As a prayer of Christ for the Church

The Christological explanation of the psalm views the verses about the speaker’s afflicted and troubled state, and sense of weakness, as concerning the Agony in the Garden. The statement that friends and neighbours stood against him, as references to Our Lord’s betrayal and then the flight of the Apostles; and the descriptions of false testimony and plotting against him as the attempts of the Jewish leaders to fabricate a case against Our Lord. Above all though, the verses dealing with the speaker’s response to the attacks on him: his becoming deaf and dumb as a prophesy of Our Lord’s refusal to offer a defense before Herod and Caiaphas, and his subsequent scourging.

Scriptural and liturgical uses of the psalm

NT references	Lk 23:49 (v11); 1 Jn 11-12 (v21)
RB cursus	Monday I, 6
Monastic/(Roman) feasts etc	Good Friday Tenebrae, II, 1; Penitential no3;
Roman pre 1911	Monday Matins
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Tues Matins   . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	Lent 3 Wed, IN 22-23

And continue on for a look at some of the verses of this psalm, with the next part here.

You can also find some notes on this psalm in the context of the Office of Tenebrae here.

*Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).

The Penitential Psalms - Psalm 31/4: On being as stubborn as a mule (verses 11-12)!

It is impossible for me to conclude this mini-series on Psalm 31 without a quick look at my two favourite verses, which deal with our natural instinct to rebel against God's providential guidance of our lives!

God's guidance

Verses 8&9 of Psalm 31 discuss the gifts that God gives to those who repent of their sins, including his guidance and protection.  But verses 11&12 (in the liturgical ordering of the text), which I want to focus on today, contain a warning:

11	V/NV	Nolíte fíeri sicut equus et mulus, * quibus non est intelléctus.
	JH	Nolite fieri sicut equus et mulus in quibus non est intellegentia :
		μὴ γίνεσθε ὡς ἵππος καὶ ἡμίονος οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν σύνεσις

Nolíte fíeri  = be not unwilling to be made = do not be

nolo, nolui, nolle  to be unwilling, not to wish, to refuse.

fio, factus sum, fieri to be made or done, to become, happen.

sicut equus et mulus = like the horse and mule

equus, i. m. a horse.

mulus, i, m., a mule.

quibus non est intelléctus [which he who has not] that have no understanding

intelligo, lexi, lectum, ere 3  understand, give heed to something, to consider

intellectus, us, m.  understanding, insight

DR	Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding.
Brenton	Be ye not as horse and mule, which have no understanding
MD	Be not like the horse and the mule that have no understanding
Cover	Be ye not like to horse and mule, which have no understanding
Knox	Do not be like the horse and the mule, senseless creatures which will not come near thee unless their spirit is tamed by bit and bridle.

12	V	In camo et freno maxíllas eórum constrínge: * qui non appróximant ad te.
	NV	In camo et freno si accedis ad constringendum, non approximant ad te.
	JH	in camo et freno maxillas eorum constringe, qui non accedunt ad te.
		μὴ γίνεσθε ὡς ἵππος καὶ ἡμίονος οἷς οὐκ ἔστιν σύνεσις

Text notes: The sense is ‘don’t be like an animal that will not come to someone unless controlled by bit and bridle’ – but the underlying text in Latin, Greek and the Hebrew is difficult!

In camo et freno maxíllas eórum constringe = with bit and bridle bind their jaws

*camus, i, m.  a bit, curb

*frenum, i, n., a bridle, curb.

maxilla, ae, f the jawbone, the jaw.

*constringo strinxi, strictum, 3, to bind, fetter, shackle, chain, restrain

qui non appróximant ad te = who do not approach you

approximo, are to approach, draw near to

DR	With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto you.
Brenton	but thou must constrain their jaws with bit and curb, lest they should come nigh to thee.
MD	With bit and bridle their jaws must be checked or they will not follow thee
RSV	which must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.
Cover	Whose mouths must be held with bit and bridle, if they will not obey thee
Knox	which will not come near thee unless their spirit is tamed by bit and bridle.

The verses are translated fairly literally in the Douay-Rheims as:

"Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto you."

In terms of the translation, the first phrase, giving us the image of the horse (equus) and mule (mulus) is straightforward.  Intellectus simply means understanding or insight.  The last phrases are a little harder to get but the sense is clear: 'in camo et freno' means with bit and bridle; maxilla means jaw or jawbone; while the verb constringere means to bind together, hold fast, fetter or restrain.  Approximare means to approach or draw near.

The virtue of reason

St Robert Bellarmine explains the verses as follows:

"The Prophet now exhorts all, both good and bad, to learn from his example the evils consequent on sin, and the blessings to be derived from penance and virtue, he having tasted of both. Turning to the wicked first, he says, "Do not become like the horse and the mule, who have no understanding." Endowed with reason, but not guided by your animal propen­sities; be not like the horse and the mule in your licentious desires, as I was; be not like the horse and the mule, in tearing and lashing at your fellow creatures, as I have been in regard of Urias. "With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near unto thee." He foretells the calamities in store for those who will act the part of the horse and the mule towards their neighbor. They will be forced by tribulations either to return to God, or will be prevented from injuring their neighbors to the extent they intended; but, as usual, this prophetic warning is expressed as if it were an imprecation. You will force those wicked men to obey you, as you would subdue a horse or a mule, with a bit and bridle, and make them obedient to you. The words bit and bridle are used in a metaphorical sense to signify the crosses and trials that God has sometimes recourse to..."

And that completes this look at Psalm 31.  The next part in this series on the Seven Penitential Psalms is an introduction to Psalm 37.

The Penitential Psalms - Psalm 31/3: Admitting our faults

Folio 66v*
http://www.metmuseum.org/

I want to pick up my Lenten series on the Seven Penitential Psalms today with a look at verse 6 of Psalm 31, which picks up a major theme of the psalm, namely our unfortunate tendency to refuse to not to simply accept that we have sinned, confess it, and move on.

Instead, human nature means that we either continue blithely ignoring the fact of our sin; try and persuade ourselves that we haven't sinned really; or persuade ourselves that our sin is not really that serious.

The sentiment also though has application for most of us, I think not just in relation to serious sins, but also in relation to those personality faults, failures and weaknesses that we all know we should work on - but do our best to try not to think about!

The verse

6	V/NV	Dixi: confitébor advérsum me injustítiam meam Dómino: * et tu remisísti impietátem peccáti mei.
	JH	Dixi, Confitebor scelus meum Domino; et tu dimisisti iniquitatem peccati mei.
	Septuagint	τὴν ἀνομίαν μου τῷ κυρίῳ καὶ σὺ ἀφῆκας τὴν ἀσέβειαν τῆς ἁμαρτίας μου διάψαλμα

Note that the Neo-Vulgate (NV) is identical to the older form of the text, despite it differing somewhat from St Jerome's take on the Hebrew (JH).

adversus or adversum, prep, with ace against; in the presence of, over against, before.

confiteor, fessus sum, eri 2 to praise, give thanks; to confess, acknowledge one's guilt.

injustitia, ae,   injustice, iniquity, sin..

remitto, misi, missum, ere 3,  to forgive, pardon, remit; to send or give back, return

impietas, atis, sin, misdeed, transgression; impiety, wickedness.

peccatum, i, n. sin, failure, error , perversion, going astray

DR	I said I will confess against my self my injustice to the Lord: and you have forgiven the wickedness of my sin.
Brenton	I said, I will confess mine iniquity to the Lord against myself; and thou forgavest the ungodliness of my heart.
MD	I said: I will confess to the Lord my injustice And thou forgavest the guilt of my sin.
RSV	I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin.
Cover	I said, I will confess my sins unto the Lord; and so thou forgavest the wickedness of my sin.
Knox	Fault of mine, said I, I here confess to the Lord; and with that, thou didst remit the guilt of my sin

A literal translation is: "I said: I will confess (confitebor) against myself (adversum me) my injustice (injustitiam meam) to the Lord: and you have remitted (tu remisisti) to me the impiety/wickedness (impietatem) of my sins."  The Douay-Rheims, and translations that mainly follow the Septuagint/Vulgate, translate the second phrase as God forgiving the 'wickedness' of the sin; those taking greater note of the Hebrew Masoretic Text, such as the Monastic Diurnal (MD), Revised Standard Version and Knox, see it as remitting the guilt of the sin involved.

The process of conversion

By way of commentary on the verses, I want to offer first St John Chrysostom's take on this verse in the process of conversion:

"Would you like me to list also the paths of repentance? They are numerous and quite varied, and all lead to heaven.  A first path of repentance is the condemnation of your own sins: Be the first to admit your sins and you will be justified. For this reason, too, the prophet wrote: I said: I will accuse myself of my sins to the Lord, and you forgave the wickedness of my heart. Therefore, you too should condemn your own sins; that will be enough reason for the Lord to forgive you, for a man who condemns his own sins is slower to commit them again. Rouse your conscience to accuse you within your own house, lest it become your accuser before the judgment seat of the Lord..."

The renewal of our baptism

Secondly, Pope Benedict XVI stressed in a message for Lent the connection between Lent and our baptism. In his catechesis on this psalm Pope John Paul II reflects this idea, saying:

"St Cyril of Jerusalem (fourth century) uses Psalm 32[31] to teach catechumens of the profound renewal of Baptism, a radical purification from all sin (cf. Procatechesi, n. 15). Using the words of the Psalmist, he too exalts divine mercy. We end our catechesis with his words: "God is merciful and is not stingy in granting forgiveness.... The mountain of your sins will not rise above the greatness of God's mercy, the depth of your wounds will not overcome the skilfulness of the "most high' Doctor: on condition that you abandon yourself to him with trust. Make known your evil to the Doctor, and address him with the words of the prophet David: "I will confess to the Lord the sin that is always before me'. In this way, these words will follow: "You have forgiven the ungodliness of my heart'" (Le Catechesi, Rome, 1993, pp. 52-53)."

And you can find the next part of this series on Psalm 31 here.

*(Illustration at top: Belles Heures of Jean de France, duc de Berry, 1405–1408/9. Herman, Paul, and Jean de Limbourg (Franco-Netherlandish, active in France by 1399–1416). French; Made in Paris. Ink, tempera, and gold leaf on vellum; 9 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (23.8 x 16.8 cm). The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 

New York, The Cloisters Collection, 1954 (54.1.1).)

Sunday canticles: Jeremiah 14:17-21 (Lent 1)

I wanted to continue today with some notes in my series on the Sunday Matins canticles in the Benedictine Office, as have now come to a new set of these for Lent.

The Benedictine Office, you will recall, uses three canticles in the third Nocturn on Sundays, and the first of these during Lent and Passiontide is from Jeremiah 14:17-21.

Here is the text laid out as for liturgical use:

Jeremiah 14:17-21

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
1. Deducant oculi mei lacrimam per noctem et diem, et non taceant	Let my eyes shed down tears night and day, and let them not cease
2. quoniam contritione magna contrita est virgo filia populi mei, plaga pessima vehementer.	because the virgin daughter of my people is afflicted with a great affliction, with an exceeding grievous evil
3. Si egressus fuero ad agros, ecce occisi gladio: et si introiero in civitatem, ecce attenuati fame.	If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine.
4. Propheta quoque et sacerdos abierunt in terram quam ignorabant.	The prophet also and the priest are gone into a land which they knew not.
5. Numquid projiciens abjecisti Judam? aut Sion abominata est anima tua?	Hast thou utterly cast away Juda, or hath thy soul abhorred Sion?
6. quare ergo percussisti nos ita ut nulla sit sanitas?	why then hast thou struck us, so that there is no healing for us?
7. Exspectavimus pacem, et non est bonum: et tempus curationis, et ecce turbatio.	we have looked for peace, and there is no good: and for the time of healing, and behold trouble.
8. Cognovimus, Domine, impietates nostras, iniquitates patrum nostrorum, quia peccavimus tibi.	We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, the iniquities of our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9. Ne des nos in opprobrium, propter nomen tuum, neque facias nobis contumeliam solii gloriæ tuæ:	Give us not to be a reproach, for thy name' s sake, and do not disgrace in us the throne of thy glory:
10. recordare, ne irritum facias fœdus tuum nobiscum	remember, break not thy covenant with us.

Scriptural context

This canticle comes from a chapter that is a dialogue between God and Jeremiah: God has sentenced Israel to famine, drought and destruction because of its sins, particularly idolatry; Jeremiah is pleading for a remission of the sentence in the face of the suffering being experienced.  

Jeremiah's pleas for mercy, though are unsuccessful: the prophecy was given around 587, just before the sack of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon.  The reason God gives for his refusla to relent is that the people have refused to acknowledge their sin and repent, and instead have been relying on false prophets who have assured them that it isn't their fault and things will be fine.   

The canticle describes the consequences, in the fall of Jerusalem (the virgin daughter) and horrors that followed:

"If I go forth into the fields, behold the slain with the sword: and if I enter into the city, behold them that are consumed with famine."

Denialism

There are some messages in the canticle that have great contemporary relevance, in the face of those who seem determined to deny that the Church is collapsing in the West, or that many of the reforms and directions implemented in the name of Vatican II have proved a disaster.

And the canticle points to one of the key causes of this denialism: those who should have been giving leadership (the priests and prophets of verse 4, as it is arranged for liturgical use) have proved to be hirelings, not shepherds, and run off elsewhere.

The canticle ends with an injunction to confess our sins before it is too late.

Pope John Paul II on the canticle

In the (OF) Liturgy of the Hours, this canticle is said at morning prayer on Friday in the third week, and Pope John Paul II gave a General Audience on it in that context back in 2002.  Here is what he had to say:

1. The Prophet Jeremiah raises to heaven from within his own historical context a bitter and deeply felt song (14,17-21). We have just heard it recited as an invocation, which the Liturgy of Lauds presents to us on the day when we commemorate the Lord's death: Friday. The context in which this lamentation arises is represented by a scourge that often strikes the land of the Middle East: drought. However, with this natural disaster, the prophet interweaves another, the tragedy of war which is equally appalling: "If I walk out into the field, look! those slain by the sword; if I enter the city look! those consumed by hunger". Unfortunately, the description is tragically present in so many regions of our planet.

2. Jeremiah enters the scene with his face bathed in tears:  he weeps uninterruptedly for "the daughter of his people", namely for Jerusalem. Indeed, according to a well-known biblical symbol, the city is represented with a feminine image, "the daughter of Zion". The prophet participates intimately in the "great destruction" and in the "incurable wound" of his people (v. 17). Often, his words are marked by sorrow and tears, because Israel does not allow herself to be involved in the mysterious message that suffering brings with it. In another passage, Jeremiah exclaims:  "If you do not listen to this in your pride, I will weep in secret many tears; my eyes will run with tears for the Lord's flock, led away to exile" (13,17).

3. The reason for the prophet's heart-rending prayer is to be found, as has been said, in two tragic events:  the sword and hunger, that is, war and famine (Jer 14,18). We are therefore in a tormented historical situation and the portrait of the prophet and the priest, guardians of the Lord's Word who "wander about the land distraught" (ibid.) is striking.

The second part of the Canticle (cf. vv. 19-21) is no longer an individual lament in the first person singular, but a collective supplication addressed to God:  "Why have you struck us a blow that cannot be healed?" (v. 19). In fact, in addition to the sword and hunger, there is a greater tragedy, that of the silence of God who no longer reveals himself and seems to have retreated into his heaven, as if disgusted with humanity's actions. The questions addressed to him are therefore tense and explicit in a typically religious sense:  "Have you cast off Judah completely?", or "Is Zion loathsome to you?" (v. 19). Now they feel lonely and forsaken, deprived of peace, salvation and hope. The people, left to themselves, feel as if they were isolated and overcome by terror.

Isn't this existential solitude perhaps the profound source of all the dissatisfaction we also perceive in our day? So much insecurity, so many thoughtless reactions originate in our having abandoned God, the rock of our salvation.

4. Now comes the turning-point:  the people return to God and raise an intense prayer to him. First of all, they recognize their own sin with a brief but heartfelt confession of guilt: "We recognize, O Lord, our wickedness,... that we have sinned against you" (v. 21). Thus God's silence was provoked by man's rejection. If the people will be converted and return to the Lord, God will also show himself ready to go out to meet and embrace them.

Finally, the prophet uses two fundamental words:  "remember" and "covenant" (v. 21). God is asked by his people to "remember", that is, to return to the line of his generous kindness, which he had so often shown in the past with crucial interventions to save Israel. God is asked to remember that he bound himself to his people by a covenant of fidelity and love. Precisely because of this covenant, the people can be confident that the Lord will intervene to set them free and save them.
The commitment he assumed, the honour of his "name" and the fact that he was present in the temple, "the throne of his glory", impel God - after his judgement of sin and his silence - to draw close to his people once again to give them life, peace and joy.

With the Israelites, therefore, we too can be sure that the Lord will not give us up for good but, after every purifying trial, will return to make "his face to shine upon us, and be gracious to us ... and give us peace" as the priestly blessing mentioned in Numbers says (6,25-26).

5. To conclude, we can associate Jeremiah's plea with the moving exhortation that St Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage in the third century, addressed to the Christians of that city. In a time of persecution, St Cyprian exhorted his faithful to implore the Lord. This prayer is not identical to the prophet's supplication for it does not include a confession of sin as the persecution is not so much a punishment for sin, but a participation in Christ's Passion. Nevertheless, it is as urgent an entreaty as Jeremiah's. St Cyprian writes, "What we must do is beg the Lord with united and undivided hearts, without pause in our entreaty, with confidence that we shall receive, seeking to appease Him with cries and tears as befits those who find themselves amid the lamentations of the fallen and the trembling of the remnant still left, amidst the host of those who lie faint and savaged and the tiny band of those who stand firm. We must beg that peace be promptly restored, that help be quickly brought to our places of concealment and peril, that those things be fulfilled which the Lord vouchsafes to reveal to his servants:  the restoration of His church, the certitude of our salvation, bright skies after rain, after darkness light, after wild storms a gentle calm. We must beg that the Father send his loving aid to his children, that God in his majesty perform now as he has so often His wonderful works" (cf. Letter 11,8 in The Letters of St Cyprian of Carthage, vol. I, p. 80, in the series Ancient Christian Writers, Newman Press, Ramsay, N.J. 1984).

The Seven Penitential Psalms - Psalm 31/2: The grace of forgiveness

 

The first verse of Psalm 131 points us to the idea of happiness, or blessedness.

	V	Beáti quorum remíssæ sunt iniquitátes: * et quorum tecta sunt peccáta.
	NV	Beatus, cui remissa est iniquitas, et obtectum est peccatum.
	JH	Beatus cui dimissa est iniquitas, et absconditum est peccatum.
		συνέσεως μακάριοι ὧν ἀφέθησαν αἱ ἀνομίαι καὶ ὧν ἐπεκαλύφθησαν αἱ ἁμαρτίαι

remitto, misi, missum, ere 3,  to forgive, pardon, remit; to send or give back, return

tego, texi, tectum, ere 3,  to cover, covered, taken away altogether.

DR	Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered.
MD	Blessed are they whose guilt is forgiven, and whose sins are pardoned.
RSV	Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
NETS	Happy are those whose lawless behaviour was forgiven and whose sins were covered over.
Brenton	Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and who sins are covered.
Coverdale	Blessed is he whose unrighteousness is forgiven, & whose sin is covered.
Knox	Blessed are they who have their faults forgiven, their transgressions buried deep;

The idea of beatitude

Beatus simply means happy, or blessed.  It has the same meaning in the (New Testament) beatitudes.  In the first verse, it is in the plural; in the second verse, the psalmist continues with the same ideas, bringing it back to the individual.
 
Why is the psalmist happy?  Because his sins (iniquitas=iniquity, sin, or rebellion against God's authority; peccatum=sin, failure, error, going astray) are forgiven or pardoned (the verb is from remittere), 'covered' (tegere) or taken away altogether (the Hebrew suggests something more like 'offend the eye no longer').  The whole thrust of the verse is that sense of a lightening of one's burden experienced (hopefully) when one emerges from the confessional.
 
Scripture interprets Scripture?
 
It always important to look at how the New Testament in particular interprets passages from the Old, since the New fulfills and explains the Old.  In the case, St Paul quotes this verse in Romans 4, in his discussion on salvation:

"Now to one who works, his wages are not reckoned as a gift but as his due. And to one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.  So also David pronounces a blessing upon the man to whom God reckons righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not reckon his sin."… No distrust made him [Abraham] waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness." But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification."

 Real remission of sin

This passage by St Paul, though, is one of those passages that demonstrate the importance of reading Scripture with the guidance of the Church, for the verses are also used by Luther in his theory of the non-imputation, rather than real forgiveness of sin.
 
Pope John Paul II puts the text in its orthodox context:

"In the Letter to the Romans St Paul refers explicitly to the beginning of our Psalm to celebrate Christ's liberating grace (cf. Rom 4: 6-8). We could apply this to the sacrament of Reconciliation.  In light of the Psalm, this sacrament allows one to experience the awareness of sin, often darkened in our day, together with the joy of forgiveness. The binomial "sin-punishment" is replaced by the binomial "sin-forgiveness", because the Lord is a God who "forgives iniquity and transgression and sin" (cf. Ex 34: 7)."

You can find the next part in this series on Psalm 31 here.